Under One Person: The Taoist Priest Descends the Mountain

Cheng Mo went into the kitchen to make breakfast, while Duo Duo sat on the doorstep and took out her phone.

I dialed a number.

Beep beep beep—Connection complete.

"Yueyue!"

A scream came from the other end of the phone: "Duoduo!"

The two little girls started chatting.

They chatted about interesting things that had happened recently, about Xia He's departure, and then they talked about—

"Yueyue, let me tell you, I went to Liangyi Temple with my senior brother! We practiced kung fu together last night and this morning!"

On the other end of the phone, Yueyue suddenly screamed, "Ah! Duoduo, why didn't you tell me you were going to Liangyi Temple?!"

Duoduo was a little embarrassed: "You've all found your parents, right? My senior brother saw that I was all alone and pitiful, so he took me back to the temple to live."

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

Several seconds later, Yueyue muttered softly, "If I had known it would turn out like this, I wouldn't have come back with Mom and Dad."

Duoduo paused for a moment, then asked with some concern, "Aren't your parents nice to you?"

"No, no!" Yueyue immediately denied. "They're really good to me. They buy me new clothes, cook delicious food, and take me out to play. I just feel... it would definitely be better to live with my senior brother and master."

Upon hearing this, Duoduo's face fell, and she sighed softly, "It's a pity I don't have a mom and dad. I wonder what it would be like to live the two different lives."

"It's okay, it's okay!" Yueyue hurriedly comforted her on the other end of the phone. "Duoduo, living with your senior brother and master is definitely no worse than living with us and Mom and Dad! If Sister Xiahe hadn't left, it would definitely be even better, much better!"

Duoduo smiled and was about to speak when she heard a woman's voice coming from Yueyue's side, seemingly calling her to eat.

Yueyue responded to the other end of the line, then said into the phone, "Mom's calling me for dinner. Duoduo, remember to record a video, okay? I want to see what our Liangyi Temple is really like!"

Duo Duo nodded vigorously: "Yes, yes! Okay! Remember to send the video to the temple too!"

After hanging up the phone, Duoduo sat on the doorstep, resting her chin on her hand and staring blankly.

Recording...

How should I record it?

Just then, she heard Cheng Mo calling from outside, "Duoduo, call Master for dinner!"

Duoduo jumped up and ran towards Cheng Shou's room. As soon as she got to the door, she saw that the old Taoist priest had already gotten up.

"Master!" Duoduo ran over and said a little shyly, "I'm sorry, I won't wake you up this early tomorrow."

Cheng Shou turned around, his old face beaming with joy, and bent down to pat her head: "Hehehe, Duoduo is such a good girl. Come on, let's go eat~"

The two went to the kitchen, where Cheng Mo had already set breakfast on the table.

The three of them sat down and began to eat.

During the meal, Duoduo mentioned wanting to record a video and send it to Yueyue and the others: "Senior brother, I want to record a video for Yueyue and the others so they can see what our Liangyi Temple is like."

Cheng Shou picked up some pickled vegetables with his chopsticks, chewed them, and said, "I'll have your senior brother go down the mountain to buy a camera later."

Cheng Mo waved his hand: "No need for a video camera, a point-and-shoot camera will do. Just buy a larger memory card and transfer the files to the computer later."

Cheng Shou's eyes lit up: "Oh, then remember to buy another computer."

Cheng Mo's chopsticks froze in mid-air: "..."

He paused for two seconds: "I didn't even bother to move the internet cable after buying it. I still have to go to an internet cafe in the city to get it working."

Cheng Shou didn't seem to mind: "The network cable is a bit of a hassle, but we're going to be in the internet age, and Duoduo can't stay away from the internet, can she?"

Duoduo looked at her senior brother, then at her master, and raised her little hand: "Can I go down the mountain with my senior brother?"

Cheng Shou smiled at her, his expression particularly kind: "Of course."

He continued the previous topic and said to Cheng Mo, "Here's what we'll do: we'll pay for the network cable ourselves. You go and build a good relationship with the telecom installer in the city. In a while, we'll invite him to install the network at our Taoist temple. We'll give him a big red envelope, and we can also install the network in the village down the mountain."

Cheng Mo thought about the route from the Taoist temple to the foot of the mountain, and then about the winding mountain road. This project was no easy task.

Moreover, the project to bring the internet to the villages has not yet started, as it is simply impractical to run internet cables from the town to the villages.

He took a sip of porridge: "Let's leave the internet issue aside. After we finish cleaning up, Duoduo and I will go to the city to buy a video recorder."

"Even without internet, we can still get the computer set up." Cheng Shou nodded.

"You can do a lot of things without the internet. I heard that other kids are sending videotapes to All-in-One, but those things take up space and are hard to store. It's much better to just convert them to some digital format and play them on the computer."

Cheng Mo glanced at the old man: "You're quite up-to-date, but what they sent wasn't a videotape, it was a CD."

Cheng Shou waved his hand: "Who cares about anything else? It's not as convenient as digital devices anyway. Just install it."

"It's up to you." Cheng Mo picked up his bowl and continued drinking his porridge.

After finishing breakfast and cleaning up the dishes, Cheng Mo took Duo Duo down the mountain.

As soon as we stepped out of the Taoist temple, the big yellow dog barked and followed us, its tail wagging like a propeller.

Cheng Mo turned around and glanced at it.

Duoduo was quite happy, squatted down and patted Dahuang's head: "Dahuang is going too?"

The big yellow dog was extremely proud, its head held high, thinking to itself that the stupid cat had disappeared somewhere and couldn't follow it down the mountain.

A man, a dog, and a little girl strolled leisurely down the mountain.

……

Meanwhile, in Xiangfan City.

Xia He arrived home, travel-worn, and took out her keys from her pocket to open the door.

The moment the door opened, she met her mother's surprised and delighted gaze.

Xia He's mother, Liu Yuping, brightened up: "Didn't you say you were going back to your hometown for the New Year? Why are you back now?"

Xia He dropped her luggage, opened her arms, and rushed over to hug her mother tightly: "You missed me, so you came back early. What, you think I'm disturbing your time together?"

Liu Yuping patted her on the shoulder: "This child."

Xia He released her and peered into the house: "Huh, where's my dad?"

The door opened as soon as he finished speaking.

Xia He's father, Xia Weidong, hunched over, pushed open the door with one hand and seemed to be guiding the people outside with the other: "Aunt Dou, this way please."

A middle-aged woman walked in from outside and met Xia He's gaze.

She paused for a moment, then smiled and nodded at Xia He, before turning to Xia Weidong and asking, "Is this your daughter? She's so beautiful."

Xia Weidong then noticed his daughter, his face instantly breaking into a smile. He asked the same question Liu Yuping had: "Didn't you say you were going back to your hometown for the New Year? Why are you back now?"

Xia He blinked: "I just suddenly wanted to come back."

She looked at the middle-aged woman and politely asked, "How should I address this lady?"

Liu Yuping quickly introduced, "This is Aunt Dou. Thanks to her help, otherwise our factory would probably be finished."

Dou Mei waved her hand, her smile gentle: "I just helped out in a small way. It's thanks to the good reputation you two have built up, otherwise those distributors wouldn't have trusted me."

Xia He's parents repeatedly praised Aunt Dou for being modest and invited her into the living room.

Xia He followed behind, her gaze fixed on the woman named Dou Mei.

Finally finding a moment to pull her parents aside, she asked, "What exactly happened? What help? What's over?"

Xia Weidong sighed and recounted the whole story from beginning to end.

The couple ran a leather shoe business, supplying shoes to downstream factories of a brand. After working in this industry for a while, they wanted to create their own brand. They quickly registered a trademark that imitated that brand, but they were unable to ship any products.

Two months ago, someone came to purchase goods, claiming to be a union clerk from a large company, distributing employee benefits.

If you could only read one fantasy novel in your life, it would probably be "Under One Person: The Taoist Priest Descends the Mountain".